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greenpanda
06-03-10, 21:10
Hi, bit of a noob question. I see all these stats comparing Samung F3 1TB vs F1 1TB.

My question is in real world usage, is it worth replacing my F1 boot drive with a F3? Is the upgrade gonna make a noticeable difference? How much faster in percentage term would you estimate it to be?

TBH, I want a 1.5TB drive but the F2 is slow. Any news of Samsung releasing a F3 1.5TB that is not eco and slow? Or even a F4?


Thx all :)
.Alan.
06-03-10, 23:07
As an OS drive I don't think you'd see such a significant difference in performance to warrant purchasing for that reason alone.

There is a good review of the F3 on the bit-tech site which compares it to the F1 amongst others. Click me (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2009/10/06/samsung-spinpoint-f3-1tb-review/1).
El Wayneo
06-03-10, 23:45
I don't think you would see any noticeable difference a s a boot drive.
Terbinator
07-03-10, 00:07
The F3's use less power and perform better than both the F1&F2's AFAIK. If I were you I would upgrade purely because the F1's are known not to be the most reliable of drives...
GentleGiant
07-03-10, 15:30
If I were buying a replacement, I would spend the extra money (about 20p last time I looked on Aria :ninja:), for the F3; and the 20-30% performance boost might tempt me to swap out an otherwise perfectly good drive for one; but realistically, I would wait until I needed more storage space; by then there will be even bigger and even faster drives at this price point.
greenpanda
07-03-10, 18:57
F1 are unreliable???

Didn't know that.

F3 is new, so that could also be just as unreliable surely, especially as it is faster?
Terbinator
07-03-10, 19:37
I think the F3 series has been out for around 9/10months so not that new. Speed doesn't really have a negative impact on reliability in this case and if anything is a myth. Enterprise servers use SAS hard disks which spin @ 15,000RPM and more and they're the finest disks you can get hold of especially for they're reliability.

Also, there are less parts in the F3 compared to the F1&2 so less stuff to go wrong an break !
Koolpc
07-03-10, 19:49
F3 is a superb drive. My 1st choice everytime
Bhavv
11-03-10, 14:01
I just replaced my F1 drives with F3s. Both get a 5.9 in Windows performance index, but windows does run noticeably faster.

It is meant to be one of if not the the fastest 1 TB drive, and is worth getting on web only offers (http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Samsung+HD103SJ+SpinPoint+F3+1TB+SATA-II+3.5%22+Hard+Drive+-+OEM+?productId=37726) of <£60.

You could easily sell your second hand F1 1TB for around £49.
coiler
11-03-10, 14:27
F3 quotes itself as being 16-33% faster than standard 7200 SATA drives.

Worth the upgrade !! :D
Mighty_Red
11-03-10, 21:17
Personally I wouldn't bother upgrading from F1 to F3 as a performance upgrade, I think theres only a few % in it, but if you need more space and will redeploy the F1 elsewhere, then go for it.
I have an F1 but its in a Lacie enclosure, so can't test for speed. I will be getting an F3 soon, but maybe I might pick up a 2TB seagate if I get lucky (fat chance)!
Aaron
11-03-10, 22:15
I just replaced my F1 drives with F3s. Both get a 5.9 in Windows performance index, but windows does run noticeably faster.

It is meant to be one of if not the the fastest 1 TB drive, and is worth getting on web only offers (http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Samsung+HD103SJ+SpinPoint+F3+1TB+SATA-II+3.5%22+Hard+Drive+-+OEM+?productId=37726) of <£60.

You could easily sell your second hand F1 1TB for around £49.
The only problem with using the Vista performance index is that 5.9 is the maximum it goes up to! So one could be scoring 5.9, the otherone could score 7.5 - but vista would show them both as 5.9. :)
pab
19-03-10, 18:02
The F3's use less power and perform better than both the F1&F2's AFAIK. If I were you I would upgrade purely because the F1's are known not to be the most reliable of drives...


The F2 uses less power but performs 'worse' it's a 5400 drive rather than 7200. It's their Edo Green drive but the power savings aren't as good as WD GreenPower.
Bradmax57
19-03-10, 23:44
F1 are unreliable???

Didn't know that.

F3 is new, so that could also be just as unreliable surely, especially as it is faster?
I had heard that just after i bought my f1, however probably coming upto almost 2 years now and not a single issue with my f1 although it is just a storage drive now my x25-m has taken over as os drive :)